Zope-like html-forms and required, disappearing values serverside in plain python

[Thomas Weholt]

Or : how to get empty form-fields in a posted html-form?

NB! I'm using BaseHTTPServer as server in my project.

I'm trying to implement something similar to Zopes html-forms:

<form ....>
  <input type="text" name="name:string:required">
  <input type="text" name="age:int">
  ...
</form>

This way we can parse the posted data server side into real python
datatypes, values intended as integers are available as integers, not as
string.atoi(age[0]) etc. The problem is that empty fields are not available
serverside, in the posted data. They just disapear. How can I use this
method and still get access to empty fields, so the required-tag makes
sense? My previous solution used a second input-field, a hidden one,
specifiying required fields, but Zope don't.

Any hint on this problem would be appreciated.

Best regards,
Thomas